Top Sales Show How Pandemic Continues to Influence the Market

The Four Percent

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Several more Manhattan townhouse sales closed in December, many at holiday-style discounts.

The priciest were in Greenwich Village. A stately house at 14 East 11th Street closed at $28 million and was the month’s most expensive transaction in New York City; and a house at 111 Waverly Place went for nearly $18.4 million.

In TriBeCa, Michael P. Davies, who runs the Sony Pictures production company Embassy Row, and his wife, Claude Davies, an actor and producer, sold their townhouse unit at 7 Hubert Street, a.k.a. the Hubert condominiums, for $11.4 million.

Over the past year, townhouses have been a bright spot in an otherwise dismal housing market, reflecting a desire among luxury buyers for more personal space, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. “You get to control your own environment,” said Hall F. Willkie, the president of Brown Harris Stevens. “There are no shared lobbies and you get outdoor space.”

Demand for roomier homes in general has been on the rise, and having outdoor space considered a big plus. Downtown, a sponsor duplex at 90 Morton Street sold for $24.8 million; a full-floor penthouse at the Hubert for $20 million; a full-floor apartment at 24 Leonard Street for $18 million; and a half-floor sponsor unit at 157 West 57th Street for $18.4 million. On the Upper East Side, the actress Christine Baranski bought a co-op duplex. And on the Upper West Side, the estate of Robby Browne, a top real estate broker who died in April, found a buyer for his apartment with a terrace.

The month’s top sale is an Italianate-style brick house on 11th Street, between Fifth Avenue and University Place, that was built in the 1850s and recently underwent a top-to-bottom renovation and sold for $28 million. Its most recent asking price was $28.5 million.

Standing five stories high and 21 feet wide, the structure has 7,411 square feet, with five bedrooms, six full bathrooms and two powder rooms, as well as a finished basement with a playroom, gym and laundry room. The primary bedroom suite occupies the fourth floor.

Among the home’s many flourishes are four fireplaces, paneled walls, soaring ceilings and an elevator. There are also about 1,400 square feet of outdoor space that includes a meticulously landscaped rear garden and terraces on the roof and fifth floor.

Both the buyer and seller were anonymous. The new owner used the limited partnership Ben Here, while the seller’s identity was shielded by the limited liability company Village Townhouse.

The house at 111 Waverly Place is a 25-foot-wide Greek Revival erected in the late 1830s near MacDougal Street. Once a multifamily dwelling, it, too, had been extensively renovated and modernized, and sold for $18.4 million.

The five-story brick building has around 8,500 square feet that includes a finished basement with a wine cellar and recreation room. There are six bedrooms, six full bathrooms and two powder rooms — along with a movie theater, two laundry rooms, a fitness room and nine fireplaces, and, of course, an elevator to get to them all. There is also a landscaped backyard garden.

The main bedroom suite takes up the third level and features a large bathroom, two walk-in closets, an office and a study.

The home’s most recent asking price was $19.5 million. Property records list the sellers as Kenneth B. Picache and Tamara L. Totah; they bought the house in 2005 for $5.6 million. The buyer was Oscar’s Nest LLC.

At 90 Morton Street in the West Village, Penthouse 11B, takes up 4,685 square feet on the 11th and 12th floors, and sold for $24.8 million. It features five bedrooms, four and a half baths and a great room with a fireplace. The home also comes with two large terraces — one on each level — totaling 1,105 square feet that offer striking vistas of the Hudson, Statue of Liberty and the downtown skyline.

The new owner, listed as Yorkshire Pudding LLC, also got a price discount in the deal. The unit had been on the market for $31 million.

The boutique condominium, a former printing factory near West Street, was converted into 35 luxury residences in 2018.

At 7 Hubert Street, Penthouse B sold for $20 million, just below its $21 million asking price. The loftlike apartment extends 4,200 square feet and features wall-to-ceiling windows that provide stunning Hudson River and cityscape views. There are three bedrooms, three and a half baths, a living room with a wood-burning fireplace, a spacious dining area and media room. The primary bedroom suite has an office and two large dressing rooms.

The seller used the limited liability company JLM Hubert St. in the transaction, while the buyer was listed as 7 Hubert, PHB LLC.

Townhouse 3C at 7 Hubert, sold by Michael and Claude Davies, has five bedrooms, five and a half baths and 6,443 square feet of interior space, for $11.4 million. The three-level unit also comes with an attached one-car garage, as well as a private rooftop terrace. It had been on the market for nearly $15 million.

Mr. Davies, the president of Embassy Row, has produced numerous TV game shows, including “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?,” “Wife Swap,” and ESPN’s “2 Minute Drill.” The buyers were listed as Jean and Daniel Yun.

The 33-unit condominium at 7 Hubert Street sits on a cobblestone street blocks from the Hudson, between Collister and Hudson Streets.

A few blocks away at 24 Leonard Street, a new boutique condo on a cobblestone street in TriBeCa, a five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom apartment sold to an anonymous buyer for $18 million.

The sprawling, second-floor unit has 4,859 square feet inside and around 4,300 square feet of terrace space, featuring a lush landscaped garden, a hot tub, and a fully equipped outdoor kitchen. Each of the bedrooms contains an en-suite bath, and the primary suite, which has a dressing area and walk-in closet, opens to the garden. An automated parking spot also comes with the unit.

The buyer was listed as Leonard Two, LLC.

At 157 West 57th Street, a.k.a One57, a 90-story tower on Billionaires’ Row in Midtown, a sponsor apartment that encompasses half the 59th floor sold for $18.4 million.

The 4,193-square-foot residence has three bedrooms and three and a half baths, as well as a great room with 11-foot ceilings. Floor-to-ceiling windows throughout provide stellar views of Central Park and Midtown.

The home had been on the market for $27.1 million. The buyer’s identity was shielded by the limited liability company Villa Borghese.

Ms. Baranski bought a duplex at 125 East 74th Street, off Park Avenue, for $2.2 million, which was just under the $2.5 million asking price. The apartment — virtually staged and in need of a little T.L.C., according to the listing photos — has four bedrooms, three baths and a formal dining room. It also comes with a separate office/staff quarters off the building’s lobby.

Ms. Baranski, who currently stars in the TV drama series “The Good Fight,” has won Tony Awards for her performances in “Rumors” and “The Real Thing.”

The apartment was sold by the 1989 Cristina Monet Zilkha Trust.

The estate of Mr. Browne sold his apartment at 25 Central Park West for just under $5 million. The home was listed in August for $5.85 million, four months after his death from Covid-19, and was under contract in September. The buyer was listed as Xeamo Inc.

The two-bedroom, two-bath residence is on the 21st floor of the prewar building, a.k.a. Century Condominium. It is 1,216 square feet and has an 800-square-foot landscaped terrace that was a source of pride for Mr. Browne and the centerpiece of his many parties and charitable events. Most of the rooms in the unit open to the terrace, which has a shower and flower gardens.

Mr. Browne, who worked for the Corcoran Group, brokered numerous deals in Manhattan during his long career as a real estate agent and represented many high-profile clients, like the rocker Jon Bon Jovi and the actors Uma Thurman and Alec Baldwin.